Coles and Garrard Building, 376-378 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
The former Coles & Garrard building at 376-378 Bourke Street, Melbourne, is a five-storey commercial curtain wall building built in the Post-War Modernist style. It was designed by architects Meldrum & Noad and opened in 1957. It was built for opticians Coles & Garrard Pty Ltd, Melbourne’s largest optometry firm until it was sold to OPSM in 1988. Coles & Garrard had an association with the building from 1957 to c1986.
Title:
Coles and Garrard Building, 376-378 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 101191
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2024:__________________________________________________DATE: 1957 ;ASSOCIATIONS: Coles and Garrard Pty Ltd;DESIGNER: Meldrum and Noad;Period: Post-WarNotable features 1985: Typical curtain wall, spandrels.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM___________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWSUMMARYThe former Coles & Garrard building at 376-378 Bourke Street, Melbourne, is a five-storey commercial curtain wall building built in the Post-War Modernist style. It was designed by architects Meldrum & Noad and opened in 1957. It was built for opticians Coles & Garrard Pty Ltd, Melbourne’s largest optometry firm until it was sold to OPSM in 1988. Coles & Garrard had an association with the building from 1957 to c1986. SITE HISTORY The land comprising the subject property at 376-378 Bourke Street was first purchased by Joseph Solomon in November 1837, as part of Allotment 7, Block 20, in the City of Melbourne (Badman & S&Mc 1892). This site was originally addressed as 17 Bourke Street (S&Mc1885). The earliest occupation of the land was c1839, with a building at neighbouring Crown Allotment 8, Block 20 extending into the site. By 1850, it is suggested that a hotel might have occupied the site, and by 1859, William Smith had opened the New York Dining Rooms on the site (Fels, Lavelle & Mider 1993, Inventory no 435; Argus 16 December 1859:1). This establishment continued to trade on the site for almost a century, under the name of either the New York Dining Rooms, or the New York Hotel, until the present building was erected (S&Mc 1955). In 1946, a fire broke out in the hotel building, starting in the bottom of the lift well and working its way up to the top of the building, causing widespread damage and collapsing the roof (Advocate 9 October 1946:5). In 1956, the de-licensed four-storey premises of the New York Hotel was put up for auction (Argus 30 May 1956:15). In 1957, an article in building and architecture journal Cross-Section noted the planned construction of a steel-framed four-storey (with provision for seven storeys) office block designed by Melbourne architects, Meldrum & Noad, for opticians Coles & Garrard on a 32-foot frontage at 376 Bourke Street (Cross-Section 1 May 1957:3, as cited in AAI, record no 87921). Founded by H E Coles, opticians Coles & Garrard Pty Ltd opened in Melbourne in March 1922. Proprietor Earle Coles was described as ‘feisty and energetic’, and built his business on advertising and commercial contracts with government agencies. Coles regarded the firm as a commercial entity, a view that ran contrary to other leaders of the profession at the time who practised with professional restraint rather than as makers and sellers of spectacles. The Coles & Garrard Pty Ltd premises were originally located at an adjoined building (known as Cromwell Building) at 370-374 Bourke Street, which has since been demolished. The firm expanded during the postwar period, establishing a branch in Geelong in 1940. Coles retired in 1948, and sold the business to 18 members of staff. The firm continued to grow during the 1950s, opening a branch in Bendigo by 1955 and another branch in Chadstone shopping centre by 1958. Further development ensued, with many branches being established in shopping centres in the following years. By May 1957, the New York Hotel had been demolished, and foundations for the present building laid, alongside underpinning of adjacent buildings (BP 31202). The rendered brick office building with a curtain wall of blue spandrel panels and opening window sections was built to five-storeys and completed by 1958 (see Figure 1) (National Trust 2014:32). By the time of construction of the subject building at 376-378 Bourke Street in 1957, the firm employed 120 people (ACO 2017). Coles and Garrard Pty Ltd was the largest optometry firm in Melbourne until it was sold to OPSM in 1988 and ceased trading under its name a few years later (ACO 2017). The 1986 building permit card for the site notes that the structure was still referred to as the ‘Coles Garrard Building’ in 1986, indicating that the firm was still operating from the premises in this year. The building permit card notes a substantial ‘refurbishment’ in September 1986 without further details, , and that it had a change of use at this time (MBAIMeldrum & Noad, ArchitectsThe architectural practice Meldrum & Noad was formed in 1938 by Percy Hayman Meldrum (1887- 1968) and Arthur Aldred Noad. Meldrum had formerly been in partnership with A G Stephenson, practicing as Stephenson & Meldrum from 1921 before departing the firm in late 1937 due to a disagreement over the firm’s direction. Arthur Noad had been the manager of the Melbourne office of Stephenson & Meldrum (Willis 2012: 450) Percy Hayman Meldrum studied at Ballarat College and was articled to AA Fritsch from 1907 to 1913. Moving to London in 1914, Meldrum practiced as an aircraft designer at the War Office and established an atelier in Wells Street, London, which became a gathering place for Australian architects engaged in war service. At the end of World War One Meldrum joined the staff of the Architectural Association, where he taught A G Stephenson and Donald Turner. In 1921, he returned to Australia to join A G Stephenson as Stephenson & Meldrum. Practising as principal designer of Stephenson & Meldrum, he strongly encouraged the inclusion of murals and sculpture in the firm’s projects. His work during the practice as Stephenson & Meldrum included Newspaper House, Collins Street (1932) and Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historic Museum (1930). Meldrum practiced as Meldrum & Noad between 1937 and the 1950s, during which time he won the 1942 RVIA Street Architecture Medal for the National Bank of Australasia building in Collins Street (1938) (Willis 2012: 450). Meldrum went on to form Meldrum & Partners in 1959 before retiring from practice in 1965. Meldrum & Noad were responsible for the design of a number of buildings in the Melbourne CBD, including the National Bank of Australasia, opened in 1939 at the corner of Collins and Williamsstreets. An article of the time announced that the bank building was the first in the area to be built to the full height allowed by the City building regulations and therefore would have ‘a decided influence on the future development’ of that part of the city (Journal of the RVIA 1939:218). Meldrum & Noad also designed the BHP head office in Bourke Street, opened in 1958.REFERENCESContextual History references contained within City of Melbourne Hoddle Grid Heritage Review: Postwar Thematic Environmental History 1945-1975Argus, as cited.Australian Architectural Index (AAI), as cited. Copyright Miles Lewis.Australian College of Optometry (ACO) 2017, Staff of Coles and Garrard Pty Ltd Opticians,https://museum.aco.org.au, accessed 22 November 2018.Badman, H.E, Sands & McDougall (Badman & S&Mc)1892, Plan of town of Melbourne, 1837 A.D first land sales held in Melbourne on 1st June & 1st November 1837, National Library of Australia onlinecollection, accessed online 18 December 2018.Building Permit 61618 for 376-378 Bourke St, Melbourne, dated 25 June 1986 (MBAI).Clinch, RJ 2012, ‘The places we keep: the heritage studies of Victoria and outcomes for urban planners’, PhD thesis, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne.Context Pty Ltd 2012, ‘Thematic History: A History of the City of Melbourne’s Urban Environment’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Context Pty Ltd 2018, ’Hoddle Grid Heritage Review Volume 2: Built and Urban Heritage – Assessed places and precincts’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Halla, Karl 1960-1970, ‘Bourke Street between Queen Street and Elizabeth Street’ 1960-1970,Melbourne Library service, Picture Victoria collection, accessed online 8 December 2018.Fowler, Lyle 1959, ‘Bourke Street, west end, RR Wickers Pty Ltd, Warburton Hardware Pty Ltd, Coles and Garrard, and Kyarra House, State Library of Victoria Picture collection, accessed online 9 December 2018.Journal of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects (RVIA) 1939, ‘The National Bank of Australasia Ltd’, Vol XXVII, No 8-9.Lewis, Miles, Philip Goad, Alan Mayne, Bryce Rayworth and Jeff Turnbull November 1993,Melbourne: An Environmental History - Volume 1: History, Central City Heritage Study, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Marsden, Susan 2000, Urban Heritage: the rise and postwar development of Australia’s capital city centres, Australian Council of National Trusts and Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra.National Trust 2014, Melbourne’s Marvellous Modernism: A comparative analysis of postwar modern architecture in Melbourne’s CBD 1955-1975, National Trust of Australia (Victoria), East Melbourne.Ramsay Consulting 2012, ‘A History of Built Form Control in Central Melbourne, Central City BuiltForm Review’, prepared for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.Sands & McDougall, Melbourne and Suburban Directories (S&Mc), as cited.Tsutsumi, Jun and O’Connor, Kevin 2006, ‘Time series analysis of the skyline and employment changes in the CBD of Melbourne’, Applied GIS Vol 2 No 2:8.1–8.12. DOI:10.2104/ag060008.Willis, Julie ‘Percy Meldrum’ in Goad, Philip & Willis, Juie (eds.) 2012, The Encylcopedia of Australian Architecture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.___________________________ACO MUSEUM WEB SITE 2021Cyril Kett Optometry Museum and ArchiveStaff of Coles and Garrard Pty Ltd. Opticians IMAGEhttps://museum.aco.org.au/archive/3021-staff-of-coles-and-garrard-pty-ltd-opticiansHistorical Significance: Coles and Garrard Pty Ltd was the largest optometry firm in Melbourne until it was sold to OPSM in 1988 and ceased trading under its name a few years afterwards. It was established in March 1922 and located at 370 to 372 Bourke Street. This photograph is from the early years of the firm. From the 1940s it established branches in country towns and at the Chadstone Shopping Centre in 1960. Earle Coles was the proprietor. He was feisty and energetic as the photograph shows, and built his business on advertising and commercial contracts with government agencies. It was regarded a a commercial firm contrary to the desires of the leaders of the profession to practice with professional restraint and thereby be accepted as professionals rather than makers and sellers of spectacles. Persons named in the photograph are: W.G. Cole (spelt as Coles in the photograph. He was the father of Barry Cole, foundation professor of optometry at the University of Melbourne), H.E. Burns. G.F Sheedy. R.L. Broadhurst, S.W. Ralph, A.E. Bisset, Misses J Shore, N Spaven, E Green. Mrs G Burns, J E Brown, K L Jennings, A, W, Fox, G. G Hussey, C R Gaddes, H E Coles, (Managing Director), C S Staples, G A Bursill, W E Stephenson, W Saxon-Jones. The photographer, John Cyril 'Jack' Cato, F.R.P.S. (1889 - 1971) was a significant Australian portrait photographer in the Pictorialist style, operating in the first half of the twentieth century. He was the author of the first history of Australian photography; The Story of the Camera in Australia (1955).
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Record types:
Research and reports
Record number:
1188971
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 101191 | 1 JPEG : 258 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |